The Chief Executive Officer of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Samuel Awuku has revealed that, the Authority was not consulted before the implementation of the 10 percent tax on betting and lottery winnings.
According to him, the law was passed in Parliament before engaging his office.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in August 2023, notified sporting and lottery companies of the 10% tax on all winnings from sports betting and lotteries.
This generated a lot of controversy with many pointing accusing fingers at NLA for initiating the tax.
But Mr. Awuku on Adom TV’s morning show, Badwam said his office was only engaged after it was passed.
“The law was passed before engagement with NLA. GRA didn’t consult us. We were consulted after it was passed in Parliament and it was too late. I would have suggested that we charged on a win of a threshold of about 30,000 cedis,” he explained.
Sammi Awuku also lamented about the numerous illegal lottery offices operating in the country.
He said most of these operators are backed by influential people in the society.
“45% of our base is captured by illegal lottery operators. Some of the people who do illegal lottery operations are backed by influential people which is making our work difficult because we only regulate 55% of general operations,” he said.
The NLA boss called for “more consultations with stakeholders are done before laws are passed”.
Watch full interview below:
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